`...as when iron is drawn to a magnet, camphor is sucked into hot air, crystal lights up in the Sun, sulfur & a volatile liquid are kindled by flame, an empty eggshell filled with dew is raised towards the Sun.. .` The Bible is full of stories featuring forms of magic & possession
- from Moses battling with Pharaoh`s wizards to the supernatural actions of Jesus & his disciples. As, over the following centuries, the Christian church attempted to stamp out `deviant` practices, a persistent interest in magic drew strength from this Biblical validation. A strange blend of mumbo-jumbo, fear, fraud & deeply serious study, magic was at the heart of the European Renaissance, fascinating many of its greatest figures. This is a book filled with incantations, charms, curses, summonings, cures & descriptions of extraordinary, shadowy, only half-understood happenings from long ago. It features writers as various as Thomas Aquinas, John Milton, John Dee, Ptolemy & Paracelsus along with anonymous ancient & medieval works which were, in some cases, viewed as simply too dangerous even to open. Brian Copenhaver`s wonderful anthology will be welcomed by everyone from those with the most casual interest in the magical tradition to anyone drawn to the Renaissance & the tangled, arcane roots of the scientific tradition.
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Every wonder why Italy`s Leaning Tower of Pisa has been slowly toppling over for centuries? Stack books on a foundation of paper balls to learn about rickety building foundations & entre of mass. How about the 15 foot high tidal wave of molasses that to re through the streets of Boston in the Great Molasses Flood of 1919? Karate chop a full tube of toothpaste (outside!) to demonstrate the messy behaviour of non-Newtonian fluids. With The Book of Epically Disastrous Engineering, kids get active with a fun, illustrated tour through the physics & technology of crumbling buildings, sinking ships, wobbly bridges, mud stuck tanks, & much more. Covering a wide range of snafus, mishaps, & outright disasters throughout history
- some infamous, like the Titanic sinking & Chilean miners trapped underground, & others lesser know, like the Fidnae Stadium collapse in ancient Rome
- these 48 hands on experiments put readers newfound knowledge into action. Each demonstration uses familiar household ingredients & helps break down the barrier between learning & doing
- or even better, between learning & having fun.


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Are you ready for another EPIC book from the winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2016 (Best Book with Facts)? If you ran your school, what would the rules be? Would you rather talk to animals, or speak every language in the world? How fast can you run? Answer these questions & much more, with real life comparisons
- how do you compare to an animal, another human, or even your parents? Collect your own data & enjoy silly facts, quizzes, & scrapbook activities. Write, draw, cut-out & fully make this book about you!
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This is the story you have asked me to tell begins not with the ignominious ugliness of Lloyd`s death but on a long-ago day in April when the sun seared my blistered face & I was nine years old & my father & mother sold me to a strange man. I say my father & my mother, but really it was just my mother. Memory, the narrator of The Book of Memory, is an albino woman languishing in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she has been convicted of murder. As part of her appeal her lawyer insists that she write down what happened as she remembers it. The death penalty is a mandatory sentence for murder, & Memory is, both literally & metaphorically, writing for her life. As her story unfolds, Memory reveals that she has been tried & convicted for the murder of Lloyd Hendricks, her adopted father. But who was Lloyd Hendricks? Why does Memory feel no remorse for his death? & did everything happen exactly as she remembers? Moving between the townships of the poor & the suburbs of the rich, & between the past & the present, Memory weaves a compelling tale of love, obsession, the relentlessness of fate & the treachery of memory. ...

The story you have asked me to tell begins not with the ignominious ugliness of Lloyd`s death but on a long-ago day in April when the sun seared my blistered face & I was nine years old & my father & mother sold me to a strange man. I say my father & my mother, but really it was just my mother. Memory, the narrator of ” The Book of Memory”, is an albino woman languishing in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she has been convicted of murder. As part of her appeal her lawyer insists that she write down what happened as she remembers it. The death penalty is a mandatory sentence for murder, & Memory is, both literally & metaphorically, writing for her life. As her story unfolds, Memory reveals that she has been tried & convicted for the murder of Lloyd Hendricks, her adopted father. But who was Lloyd Hendricks? Why does Memory feel no remorse for his death? & did everything happen exactly as she remembers? Moving between the townships of the poor & the suburbs of the rich, & between the past & the present, Memory weaves a compelling tale of love, obsession, the relentlessness of fate & the treachery of memory. ...

Abducted from her West African village at the age of eleven & sold as a slave in the American South, Aminata Diallo thinks only of freedom
- & of finding her way home again. After escaping the plantation, torn from her husband & child, she passes through Manhattan in the chaos of the Revolutionary War, is shipped to Nova Scotia, & then joins a group of freed slaves on a harrowing return odyssey to Africa. Based on a true story, Lawrence Hill`s epic novel spans three continents & six decades to bring to life a dark & shameful chapter in our history through the story of one brave & resourceful woman.
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Described by the New York Times as both beautifully written & devastating', this is a startling, hard-edged dissection of slavery
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By the Man Booker-winning author Marlon James, this is the powerful story of Lilith, born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the end of the eighteenth century. Even at her birth, the Night Women
- a clandestine council of fierce slaves plotting an isl&-wide revolt
- recognize a dark force in her that they treat with both reverence & fear. But as Lilith comes of age & begins to understand her own feelings & identity, she dares to push at the edges of what is imaginable for the life of a slave woman. & as rebellions simmer & unspoken jealousies intensify, Lilith`s powers & sense of purpose threaten not just her own destiny, but the destinies of all the slave women in Jamaica.

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A suicide attempt, staged to attract as much attention as possible, from the top of St. Peter`s Church, quickly evolves into an outlandish & absurd, televised spectacle... When a PA is invited into her boss`s office one day to observe a protest unfold, just as he predicts, in the streets below, she begins to suspect his powers of foresight might extend beyond mere business matters... Finally moving into the house of her dreams, on the island of K psala, a single mother discovers a strange affinity with the previous occupant... Riga may be over 800 years old as a city, but its status as capital of an independent Latvia is only a century old, with half of that time spent under Soviet rule. Despite this, it has established itself as a vibrant, creative hub, attracting artists, performers, & writers from across the Baltic region. The stories gathered here chronicle this growth & on-going transformation, & offer glimpses into the dark humour, rich history, contrasting perspectives, & love of the mythic, that sets the city s artistic community apart. As its history might suggest, Riga is a work in progress; & for many of the characters in these stories, it is the possibilities of what the city might become, more than merely what it is now, that drives the imagination of its people. This book is published with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia & The Latvian Writers Union. Translated from the Latvian by Kaija Straumanis, Suzanne Mc Quade, Uldis Balodis, Ieva Lesinska, Marta Ziemelis & Zanete Vevere Pasqualini. Foreword by Former President of Latvia (1999-2007) Vaira Vike-Freiberga. ...

Once found only in sushi bars & Japanese restaurants, Sake now lines the shelves of gourmet food shops, supermarkets & restaurants of all persuasions, listed alongside the customary wine selections. With demand on the rise, the timing of The Book of Sake: A Connoisseur's Guide could not be better. Sake brewmaster Philip Harper provides the ultimate introduction by the ultimate insider. Harper is, after all, the only non-Japanese to rise to the official rank of master brewer. In these pages, readers will discover the true pleasures Japan's national tipple. They will learn how to select a good sake & how to match an evening's selection with food. Harper introduces a collection of sake lore, a guide to reading sake labels, a groundbreaking new tasting chart & a selection of sakes for all palates by the esteemed sake critic Haruo Matsusake. To round out the volume, Harper offers highlights of Japan's sake regions (in wine terms, its Bordeaux & Bourgogne), then presents perhaps the most intriguing tour of the sake brewmaster's art ever to be published in English. In short, Harper serves up the secrets of sake as only an insider could. Perhaps the place to end is where Harper's journey began. Of his awakening to the charms of his adoptive country's native drink, Harper remembers: I could not believe that sake, which comes from rice, had the fragrance of fruit. Yes, that & much more. ...